Burr Ridge Park Board Violated State Law: Attorney General

BURR RIDGE, IL – The attorney general's office on Wednesday found the Burr Ridge Park District board violated state law when it held a closed meeting last July to discuss issues related to a proposed Costco development.

In a letter to the district, the attorney general asked the board to release 17 minutes of the closed meeting.

The district indicated Thursday it had not decided yet whether it would comply with the state agency's request.

Last summer, watchdog Edgar Pal and Burr Ridge resident Lisa Turano both filed complaints with the attorney general. They cited Patch's reporting questioning whether the board followed the state Open Meetings Act in closing the meeting.

Patch caught wind of the possible violation when it obtained an email from Burr Ridge Village Manager Evan Walter to the Village Board, which is separate from the park district. In it, Walter indicated the park board held a closed meeting to discuss improvements to Harvester Park in connection with the nearby proposed Costco development.

Walter did not take issue with the closed session, but said a park board member distributed a document about the Costco plan from that meeting in a breach of "closed session decorum."

By Walter's description, the closed meeting seemed to be a violation of the open meetings law. The board must discuss park improvements and nearby developments in the open.

In its defense, the park district said it discussed the purchase or lease of real estate in the closed sessions, which are allowable exceptions to close the doors. But Teresa Lim, a supervising attorney in the attorney general's office, said her agency found the park board improperly discussed matters other than the stated exceptions.

"There is no indication from the verbatim recording that the Board contemplated purchasing any of the remaining acres of the developer's land," Lim said.

The park board told the attorney general that it was not involved in the sale or purchase of the CNH Industrial property, which is where a Costco and other commercial development is under consideration. Harvester Park is next to CNH.

In response to a Patch inquiry Thursday, Jim Pacanowski, the park district's director, said the board would discuss releasing the recording in question during a closed session at its March 11 meeting. He said the district would seek its attorney's "explicit instructions" on how to proceed forward legally.